3/14/2013
Meeting Professionals International Chicago Area Chapter (MPI-CAC) successfully hosted the third annual TechCon, the one-day information-packed event on February 19, 2013 at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

The event featured 16 speakers and 30 exhibitors throughout the day, and a closing reception in the evening. MPI TechCon brought together hundreds of event planners, event suppliers, marketing professionals, brand advertisers, agencies and business leaders the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the ever-changing social and digital landscape.
Scott Stratten, author and president of UnMarketing, opened the event with his keynote on connecting technology with engagement as it relates to marketing, branding, public relations, social media, human resources and customer service. Other notable speakers at the conference included: Sara Santiago, founder and president of Roll Mobile; Mana Ionescu, founder and president of Lightspan Digital; and Tim McDonald, community manager of Huffington Post Live, among others.

A few days prior to TechCon, MPI also hosted its first ever industry hack-a-thon with the help of Cibola, Chicago's newest tech/entrepreneurial incubator and co-working hub for start-ups, on February 15-17, 2013. HackMPI completed its goal to create software solutions specific to the event and meeting industry and presented them during the third annual MPI TechCon at the Illinois Institute of Technology on February 19, where voting took place to decide on the best solution.

HackMPI brought together developers, designers, and entrepreneurs that created technology aimed at event planners, event suppliers, marketing professionals on the lookout for software solutions to use or resell. Ten judges, speakers, and mentors were on hand to meet with the participants for one-on-one counseling about prototypes and ideas. Suggestions were taken from MPI TechCon attendees, membership of MPI and the event industry at large, updated and refined and then presented to teams of developers to use as influences at the beginning of the Hackathon. HackMPI had 58 developers registered for the hack-a-thon, but only about a fourth made it to the end of 48 hour code marathon with 6 teams completing projects.